The Lines That Connect Us

Book excerpt: Southeast Alaska is a collection of northern rainforest islands described as the Alexander Archipelago. The amount of rainfall in Southeast communities is the stuff of folklore and personal stories. Infl uenced by tides, prevailing winds, snow-capped mountains, and the nature of a maritime climate, our environment invites precipitation. Warmed just enough by off shore currents, snowfall is not as determined as rainfall. We do have periods of time when snow is plentiful, but it is commonly chased away by rain. Often, it takes only a degree or two of temperature change for one form of precipitation to become another. It is in those few degrees of variation that our stories change, our moods change, and sometimes our lives change. Although the weather is a frequent discussion, Southeast Alaska is more than rainfall or snow. There is the interconnectedness of life seen so clearly here. The lines of life are a vast spider web that conjoin to form our environment--the land to the sea, the wild creatures to their surroundings and each other, the human connections to all. I wish that the following collection of poems will present the reader with an increased appreciation of our unique environment and lifestyle and how each is so reliant on the other. lrib